crimeandpunishment writes: It was the big deal Dell wanted in a big way. But now that it's lost out to Hewlett-Packard in the bidding war it started for 3-Par, where does Dell go in its effort to diversify its business and move into the higher-profit area of selling technology to other companies? The company faces significant challenges....largely due to its lower-end focus, and because many of its competitors beat Dell into branching out. One analyst says "People see them (Dell) as box-pushers".